The Japanese ministry of economy, trade and industry recently granted Japan Gold (TSXV: JG; US-OTC: JGLDF) prospecting rights for its Tobaru gold project in Japan's southern Kyushu province.
The rights allow Japan Gold to drill the property. It plans to sample and map Tobaru in 2019 to identify potential drill targets.
The 13.5-sq.-km project sits east along strike and adjacent to the Fuke epithermal gold mine, which has produced more than 100,000 oz. gold. Both lie in the northern part of the larger Hokusatsu-Kushikino mining district. According to the company, the district has produced more than 10 million oz. gold from epithermal deposits.
In particular, the active Hishikari gold mine has produced 7.4 million oz. gold at grades as high as 40 grams gold per tonne and the past-producing Kushikino gold-silver mine produced 1.8 million oz. gold at 6.7 grams gold.
The news comes less than a month after the Japanese ministry granted Japan Gold full prospecting rights for five applications covering its 17 sq. km Ohra-Takamine gold project in southern Kyushu.
The company plans to launch a scout drilling campaign at Ohra-Takamine in 2019 to test extensions of historically mined veins.
Japan Gold has 13 epithermal gold projects and four lithocap gold projects across the country. The Japanese ministry has accepted the company's prospecting rights applications for all its projects. This allows the company to perform surface exploration like mapping and sampling.
Shares of Japan Gold are currently trading at 8 ? with a 52-week range of 7 ? to 39 ?. The company has a $5.5 million market capitalization.